‘Pokemon Go’ has been through the full cycle of viral mobile fun. It was a summer hit, leading thousands of people around cities and towns while staring down at their phones. Then, the fun wore off for many and the Poke-zombies diminished for the most part, leaving only committed players behind. Those players spent time walking hundreds of miles in search of every last Pokemon in the game, as well as the ability to evolve them enough to take over gyms and hold them for weeks at a time.
Those same players are probably getting a little bit bored with the game by now though. Despite the recent buddy system going live and a multi-day Halloween promotion that offered easier captures and more candy for players based on the same basic actions, there haven’t been any major changes to the game in some months. But some new evidence is leading some to believe that drought is ending soon, and it points towards more than the recently announced Daily Quests.
Data miners found code in the back end of a recent update of the game that leads them to believe Second Generation Pokemon could soon be added to the game. The code references new Pokemon, not currently available in the game, from 152 to 251 in the Pokedex. Plus, there is also code that mentions “Transform,” a word that specifically brings “Ditto” to mind. Ditto is the only one of the original Pokemon (behind those legendary and still missing birds) that wasn’t included in the original version of the game.
Like many things ‘Pokemon Go’ related, this updated code is just a hint at what’s to come and has no actual due date as to when it might go into effect. Right now, the game’s developers have bigger Pidgey to fry. Mainly how to keep people walking around and playing once the cold weather sets in, the best time and method to implement battles to the game, and other minor updates to basic gameplay. At this point, new Pokemon are probably not at the top of the priority list for Niantic when they want to make sure they are deployed without error and released in the most exciting way possible for the most players.
(via Polygon)